Tuesday 30 June 2009

I was prowling through

the paper yesterday and found it was still far too full of Michael Jackson, Utegate (as the Ozcar affair has been dubbed) and other doom and gloom. I do not need doom and gloom. My real life job is far too full of doom and gloom. I do not need to know the minutiae of Jackson's life either. I most certainly do not need to know how our Prime Minister is lording it over the Leader of the Opposition. (They are both people I hope I never meet.)
I wonder why bad news sells and why good news does not sell. Why are so many people vicariously thrilled by the misfortunes of other people?
There is a skin thin line between the need to know, the right to know, a requirement to know and plain nosiness. We need to know when something will directly affect us. We have the right to know when our decision making may be affected by what we know. We should be required to know when others need our help.
Anything else is plain nosiness. It gets in the way of real news. It prevents us from knowing what we need to know, from knowing what we have the right to know and what we should be required to know. Nosiness is used to control us. It is used to divert our attention and misdirect us. It is used to create an illusion.
Perhaps if you can control the media you can control the world?

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